Abilities:
Your Abilities: Strength [STR], Dexterity [DEX], Constitution[CON], Intelligence[INT], Wisdom [WIS] and Charisma [CHA]. Does anyone not know what any of these are? To determine your starting skills, you roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die, 6 times - then arrange the scores to your satisfaction.

Each Ability will have a modifier, ranging from -4 to +4 for starting characters. The modifier is the number you add to a die roll when your character tries tot do something related to that ability. For instance, you add your Strength modifier to your roll when you try to break down a door or hit someone with a chair.

After your abilities are determined, you might as well pick some feats. Hopefully you have a character concept working and bouncing about in your mind which may help guide you to the right feats to pick. The beginning player starts with 2 feats. You get to choose more as you rise in levels. Some feats require other feats to be taken first, or Abilities of a certain score or better. These are called "Preriquisites".

</b>General Feats: </b>
Acrobatic - You are very agile.
Alertness - You are keenly aware of your surroundings.
Ambidexterity - You are equally adept at using either hand.
Animal Affinity - You are good with animals.
Athletic - You have a knack for athletic endeavors.
Blind-Fight - You know how to fight in melee without being able to see your
foes.
Cautious - You are especially careful with tasks that may yield catastrophic
results.
Cleave - You can follow through with a powerful melee attack.
Combat Casting - You are adept at casting spells in combat.
Dodge - You are adept at dodging attacks.
Drive-By Attack - You are especially skilled at attacking from a moving vehicle.
Endurance - You are capable of amazing feats of stamina.
Expertise - You are trained at using your combat skill for defense as well as
offense.
Far Shot - You can get greater distance out of a ranged weapon.
Gearhead - You have a way with machines.
Great Fortitude - You are tougher than normal.
Improved Critical - Chose one specific weapon, such as a baseball bat, or an
M-16. With a melee weapon, you know how to hit where it hurts; with
a ranged weapon, you have deadly accuracy.
Improved Initiative - You can react more quickly than normal in a fight.
Iron Will - You have a stronger will than normal.
Lightning Reflexes - You have faster than normal reflexes.
Martial Artist - You are skilled at fighting while unarmed and deal more damage
with unarmed strikes. You are also capable of dealing normal damage
with unarmed attacks at no penalty (as opposed to subdual damage).
Mobility - You are skilled at dodging past opponents and avoiding attacks they
make against you.
Multishot - You can use the autofire or multifire option on guns with
exceptional accuracy.
Nimble - You have exceptional flexibility and manual dexterity.
Persuasive - You have a way with words and body language.
Point Blank Shot - You are skilled at making well-placed shots with ranged
weapons at close range.
Power Attack - You can make exceptionally powerful melee attacks.
Precise Shot - You are skilled at timing and aiming ranged attacks.
Quick Draw - You can draw weapons with startling speed.
Rapid Shot - You can use ranged weapons with exceptional speed.
Rolling Shot - You are highly trained in acrobatic, defensive ranged weapon
tactics.
Run - You are fleet of foot.
Sharp-Eyed - You have an eye for detail.
Shot on the Run - You are highly trained in ranged weapon tactics.
Skill Emphasis - Choose a skill, such as Spot. You have a special knack with
that skill.
Spring Attack - You are trained in fast melee attacks and fancy footwork.
Stealthy - You are particularly good at avoiding notice.
Toughness - You are tougher than normal.
Track - You can follow the trails of creatures and characters across most types
of terrain.
Trustworthy - You have a friendly demeanor.
Two-Weapon Fighting - You can fight with a weapon in each hand, making one extra
attack each round with the second weapon.
Wealth - You have more money than others, either due to inheritance, a trust
fund, stock options, smart investments, salary bonuses, or other
means.
Weapon Finesse - You are especially skilled at using a certain melee weapon, one
that can benefit as much from Dexterity as from Strength.
Investigators can choose one weapon from this list: knife(any),
rapier/foil, hatchet, brass knuckles, or unarmed strike.
Weapon Focus - Choose a specific weapon (a single entry in the Equipment list),
such as a straight razor or a Colt New Service Revolver. You are
especially good at using this weapon. You can choose unarmed strike
or grapple for your specific weapon for purposes of this feat.
Weapon Proficiency - You understand how to use a particular type of weapon in
combat. Each time you take this feat, you may choose one of the
following weapon categories: melee weapon, thrown weapon, pistol,
rifle (includes automatic rifles), shotgun, or submachine gun. Melee
weapons include weapons such as clubs, nightsticks, baseball bats,
and even shovels. Thrown weapons include throwing knives and
grenades.
Psychic Feats:
Biofeedback Trance - You can access your inner psychic strength, using it to
better use the powers of your own body.
Dowsing - You can sense energy patterns invisible to others.
Mind Probe - You can delve into someone's mind to learn information stored
there.
Mind Reading - You can read someone else's current thoughts. Characters with
this ability are sometimes called "receivers".
Psychokinesis - With a talent of mind over matter, you can manipulate physical
objects by thought alone. This ability does not work on living
creatures.
Psychometry - You can handle an object and gain a vision, either of the person
who created it or someone who has touched it in the past.
Remote Viewing - You can see events occuring far away from you.
Second Sight - You can see thigns that others cannot. Sometimes ghosts or
horrible alien monsters can render themselves invisible, but not to
you.
Sensitive - You are aware that there is more than meets the eye - an almost
imperceptible world of psychic phenomena.
Telepathy - You can communicate with someone by sending mental messages.
Characters with this ability are sometimes called "senders".

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After picking your feats, you will probably want to move into Skill selection. For each character concept, you have a profession in mind. Here are some basic and common Profession Templates to use for deciding which are your core skills:

(EX. Leo has a 13 Intelligence. This gives him a +1 modifier. He will have (8 + 1) x 4 skill points to distribute. That's 9x4=36. For every level he goes up, he'll get 8+1=9 more skill points to distribute.)

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Some skills you have to chose a specialty. These are like Knowledge(Local) where you have to pick a specific city, Pilot, other Knowledges, Crafts or methods of Performance. Here are some of the common choices in these categories:

Now you have to determine whether your character will be primarily Defensive or Offensive. This is a balancing factor to keep the characters from being too overpowering.

A Defense Option character begins play with two "good" saves (starting at +2) and one "bad" save (starting at +0). The three saving throw progressions are assigned (in any order) to Fortitude, Reflex and Will during character creation. Base attack bonus begins at +0.

An Offense Option character begins play with one "good" save (starting at +2) and two "bad" saves (starting at +0). The three saving throw progressions are assigned (in any order) to Fortitude, Reflex and Will during character creation. Base attack bonus begins at +1.

So 1d6 is rolled. You add or subtract your profession modifier. Then multiply that number by the dollar ammounts for your given era.

(EX. Leo is a criminal in 1975. He rolls a 5 on a 1d6, then subtracts 1 due to his profession modifier, giving him a resulting roll of 4. His savings would be (4 x $4000)$16,000, and his Yearly Income would be (4 x $8000)$32,000.)

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Initiative:

You roll d20, then add your INIT modifiers to the roll. The list of results determines who goes first from top to bottom, highest first, lowest last.

The act actually takes your character the full round to perform one round of action, but for simplicities sake it's considered to have been done at that count. The only exception is with spells.

A spell normally is considered complete at the intiative count directly before the spell-caster's next turn. So if he had an initiative count of 18, the spell would be completely cast and go off on initiative count 19 of the next round, then the spell-caster could do something for the next round at count 18.

There are three ways a player can change his iniative.

1) Delay an Action - Which is basically foregoing an action while you wait and see what others do. This results in your initiative score being lowered to the point at which you choose to act.

2) Ready an Action - You can ready a pre-declared partial action, as part of a standard action, which you will take on a specified condition eg attacking a spell caster if he tries to cast a spell. Your declared partial action takes place just before the action which triggers it, and lowers your iniative to the point in time when the trigger action takes place. If the trigger does not occur, you lose your partial action and your initiative stays the same.

3) Refocus - You can forgoe all actions for a round, and instead refocus yourself. At the start of the next round, your iniative score is repositioned to what it would have been if you have rolled a 20 plus your iniative modifiers.

(stolen from the D&D 3rd Ed. section - thanks to IronSite!)

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An action's type essentially tells you how long it takes to perform within the framework of a 6-second round. There are four types of actions: free actions, move actions, attack actions, and full-round actions.

During a around, you can attempt:
- a move action and an attack action
- an attack action and a move action
- two move actions
- or, a full-round action.

You can also perform free actions as the GM allows.

Free Action:
Free actions consume a very small amount of time and effort. Over the span of the round, their impact is so minor that they are considered free. You can perform one or more free actions while taking another action normally. However, the GM puuts reasonable limits on what you can do for free. For instance, calling out several pages of text from the Necronomicon takes longer.

Move Action:
Move actions either involve moving or take the place of movement. As a move action, you can move up to your speed. Other move actions include (but aren't limited to) drawing a weapon, standing up from a prone position, and picking up an item.
If you move no actual distance in a round (that is, you use your actions to do something other than moving actual distance), you can take one 5-foot step before, during, or after the action.

Attack Action:
During a combat round, you can take an attack action and a move action in the same round. Making a single attack is an attack action; so is anything you might do instead of attackinig that doesn't involve movement. Examples include dismissing a spell, striking a weapon, and using the Heal skill to stabilize a dying character.

Full-Round Action:
A full-round action consumes all your effort during a round. Examples include casting a 1-round spell, reloading a gun, and running up to quadruple your speed (likely fleeing for your life). If you can attack more than once in a round, doing so is a full-round action.
The only movement you can take with a full-round action is a 5-foot step before, during or after the action. Some full-round actions do not talalow you to take a 5-foot step, including those that involve moving (such as running).

No Action Free Actions
Delay Speak
Cease concentration on a spell
Move Actions Drop an item
Move your speed Drop to the floor
Climb (1/4 your speed) Draw a weapon (if you're moving that round)
Sheathe or holster a weapon
Open a door Attack Actions
Pick up an item Make a single attack
Retrieve a stored item Ready (triggers a move or attack action)
Move a heavy object Concentrate to maintain or redirect spell
Stand up from prone Dismiss a spell
Click on a flashlight Bum's Rush (as an attack)
Draw a weapon (if not moving) Change form (for a shapeshifter)
Use touch spell on self
Full-Round Actions Escape a grapple
Climb (1/2 your speed) Feint
Use a skill that takes 1 round Heal a dying friend
Coup de grace Light a candle with a match
Bum's rush (as a charge) Use a skill that takes 1 action
Extinguish flames Strike a weapon (attack)
Load a firearm Strike an object (attack)
Use touch spell on up to 6 friends Total defense
Refocus (no move)
Escape from a net or similar trap Action Type Varies (Unarmed Attacks)
Withdraw from melee Disarm
Grapple
Trip ana opponent

The Action Type Variance for Unarmed Attacks forms a substitute for a melee attack, not an action. As melee attacks, they can be used once as an attack action, once during a charge, or one or more times in a full attack.

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The standard rules for Call of Cthulhu assume that combatants are actively avoiding attacks. A player doesn't have to declare annything special for his character to defend himself. Sometimes, however, a combatant in a melee lets his guard down, and he's not on the defensive as usual. In theese cases, combaatants near him can take advantage of his lapse in defense to attack him for free. These free attacks are called attacks of opportunity.

Threatened Areas:
Each combatant threatens a 5-foot area around himself (the araea into which he can make melee attacks). If you're within 5 feet of an opponnent, you're in his threatened area, and some of your actions might provoke opportunity attacks. Likewise, any opponent within 5 feet of you is in your threatened area. A flat-footed* character doesn't threaten the area around him.

Provoking an Opportunity Attack:
Three types of actions can provoke opportunity attacks while you're in a threatened area: moving more than 5 feet, taking an action that distracts you from defending yourself, and certain unarmed attacks.

Moving within a Threatened Area:
When you enter a threatened area, you must immediately stop moving; if you don't, you provoke an opportunity attack. However, if you start your movement within a threatened area, you can move up to 5 feet without provoking one.

Taking an Action that Distracts You:
Some actions themselves provoke opportunity attacks because they require you to divert attention from the fight at hand. Common examples innclude casting a spell and holstering (or sheathing) a weapon. Firing a gun does not incur an opportunity attack.

Casting on the Defensive:
You can cast a spell from a threatened area without drawing an opportunity attack by making a Concentration check (DC 15). If the check fails, the spell and the action are lost, and the subject threatening you can make an opportunity attack.

Withdrawing from Combat:
You can withdraw from combat with an opponent by leaving his threatened area. You can do this either by moving 5 feet (perhaps with your 5-foot step) or by withdrawing as a full-round action. If you take this second option, you can move up to double your speed.

Making an Opportunity Attack
An opportunity attack is a single melee attack, and you can only make one per rouund. You do not have to make an opportunity attack if you don't want to do so. If you make an opportunity attack, you do so at your normal attack bonus - even if you have already attacked that round.

*Flat-footed characters - a character who has not yet acted during a combat is flat-footed, not yet reacting normally to the situation. A flat-footed character loses his Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any).